Letter: New Vineland bike lanes an accident waiting to happen

I recently had the opportunity to see the new bike lanes that are on Wood and Elmer Streets.

First of all, the bike lane is not next to the curve where it should be. It is next to the parallel parking space for vehicles. Travelling down Wood Street, the right side of the bike lane is next to the traffic lane. This is a very unsafe situation for a motor vehicle or bike rider. There is also another area for vehicle parking on the opposite side of the street. When you take the two parking areas and the bike lane into consideration, the road area that is left for vehicle travel is very minimal.

Whoever came up with this bike lane configuration made a big error. I saw some cars partially driving in the bike lane on Wood Street. Due to the size of some trucks, when they were stopped making deliveries they were also temporarily blocking the bike lane.

If the city wants safe bike lanes on Wood and Elmer Streets, I have the following recommendations. First of all, get black paint and paint over the new parking and bike lanes on both streets. Then on the left side where vehicles travel, paint the bike lane next to the curb. There should be no vehicle parking on this side of the street. For safety sake, there should only be vehicle parking on the opposite side of the street. This configuration will allow ample room for vehicles to travel on the street without getting too close to the bike lane.

Currently, these new bike lanes are an accident just waiting to happen.